Hidden Secrets
by JustJustine014
Summary: What goes on behind the masks? What are their lives like behind their ranger duties? What kind of people are they? They may seem like their lives are perfect, but are they really? Everyone has their own secrets, but what happens when you keep it all in? What kind of secret is this certain ranger hiding, and why?
1. An Insecure Beginning

~ I do not own Power Rangers. This story is fan-made and created due to personal interest

"Why? Why me? There are billions of people in the world, but Gosei picked me and four other teenagers to become power rangers. Why would some galactic space alien decide to put together a team of uncanny superheroes who were still in high school? I mean really, we're all just starting junior year. How are we supposed to handle all of this? How am I supposed to handle all of this crap? I wanna help, but what good could I do? Everyone seems like they are cut out for this except for me."

"Troy just moved here, but he's already proven to be a strong, loyal, and compassionate leader. He's a skilled martial artist and his decision making skills are unquestionable. Jake's strength is admirable due to his years of playing soccer and would lighten up the team with his corny jokes. Even Jake's best friend, Noah, fit in perfectly on the team. He isn't the strongest member, but he is certainly the smartest. He could probably become the next Einstein if he tried hard enough. I still don't understand how they became best friends, but their relationship is unbreakable. I guess Noah is the brains and Jake is the brawn, they complete each other.

"Then there's Gia, my best friend Gia. I've known her my whole life and learned that she's practically perfect. Any guy would drool over, but she isn't the shallow type either. She knows to respect others and herself while maintaining her famous tough image. In a way, she is like the combination of Noah, Jake, and Troy with her quick thinking, natural athletic abilities, and strong leadership skills. No wonder she was made second in command."

Emma sighed, "Then there's me. What good am I? What can I do?"

Emma didn't even notice Gia come in through her room's open window and was snapped out of her thoughts when Gia tapped her shoulder.

"Emma? You okay? Gia asked

Emma quickly turned around, put a fake smile on, and tried to come up with a quick lie.

.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just thinking of what trail to take later so I can take some nice pictures.

However, Gia knew something was up. She knew that look on Emma's face. Emma and Gia's parents became best friends in middle school and stayed that way up until now. Their parent's friendship was inseparable and so was theirs. This caused Emma and Gia to pretty much grow up with each other, they were practically siblings. However, once Emma's mom, Elaine, died from a car accident a few years ago, something about Emma changed. During Elaine's funeral Emma didn't shed one tear, but at the same time, Gia could see how devastated Emma was. She put on a façade to hide her real feelings.

Emma became the type of person who would keep things to herself and would make sure no one would worry about her. She always put others' needs before herself and would do anything to make sure those who were close to her were okay. Emma's heart was made of gold, she wasn't the strongest or smartest, but she would never give up. Selfless was the perfect word to describe her.

Gia shook her head, "Emma I know you're not okay. I can read you like a book. We can talk about it if you want. You can't hide everything."

Emma didn't want to lie to Gia, but she didn't want her to know how she felt either, "Just a few insecurities. Nothing big, it's all good.

"Emma, I can see you putting up your walls. Your fake smile is coming out. C'mon, you can tell me anything."

"It's nothing." Emma said a little more sternly. "I'm just gonna go riding around on my usual trail to get some fresh air. I'll keep my morpher on me in case a monster shows up. Meet you at school later!"

Gia rolled her eyes and replied saying, "Okay fine, see you later."

"Be safe on your walk to school!" Emma said as she grabbed her backpack and bike.

"Says the girl who's venturing off in the woods where anything can happen." Gia mumbled

"I heard that!" Emma said as she shut the door.


	2. Not So Sweet Lullabies

Emma continued on her trail until she finally reached her destination. No one really used this trail, so Emma decided to just leave her bike next to the tree. She then took out her camera and started taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. The beautiful green pasture and the majestic trees with pink blossoms was absolutely stunning. However, she couldn't keep her mind off her feeling of being useless. Not only that, but she has been dealing with some of her own personal problems. Not even Gia knew about them and that's what Emma hoped to keep it at.

Letting out a big sigh, Emma mumbled, "If only they knew."

Emma just stared at grass and hugged herself. A tear slipped as Emma started to sing her late mother's signature song.

"Flowers bloom, bloom and share your sweet perfume

Flowers bloom, bloom so many things to see…."

Suddenly, Emma heard footsteps behind her and quickly turned around.

"Troy?" Emma asked with a red embarrassed face. "What… what are you doing here?"

Troy just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I was just out for a morning jog and saw you pass by. I tried calling out to you, but you didn't notice.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't notice. I.."

"I didn't know you had such a beautiful voice. You know, you really have a talent there."

Emma blushed and replied saying, "Thanks. I got it from my mom. She used to sing it to me all the time before she passed away. Sometimes I sing it to myself to keep her memory alive, it makes me feel like she's still here."

"She passed away?

"Yeah, about two years ago my mom and I were driving home from the mall. Some guy was drunk and rammed right into my mom's side of the car. The car flipped over and she was losing blood fast. Adrenaline pumped through me and I forgot about my own injuries so I could try to help her. I tried to stop the bleeding. I tried to comfort her. I tried calling 911, but they didn't come fast enough."

Emma sighed, "She died in my arms from head trauma and blood loss. I couldn't do anything. I felt so helpless"

As Emma finished the story, she stared at the ground and unknowingly clutched her hands tightly. Troy saw this and gave her a soft look. He walked over to her and gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"There's nothing you could have done. You tried everything you could possibly do."

"But.."

"You tried your best Emma. You.."

"I could've done more!" Emma said as she glared at Troy. "I could've done more, and she would still be alive. She would still be alive, it wouldn't have been my fault, and things at home would be a lot better!"

Troy furrowed his brow when he heard that last part. He was about to question it until he heard a terrible wretched sound.

Both Emma and Troy fell to the ground and clutched their heads in pain. It was absolutely dreadful and sounded like a high screeching tire on repeat.

After what seemed like hours of torture, the terrible sound finally stopped. Emma and Troy slowly pushed themselves up, but the painful ringing in their ears made it hard to move. Though the awful music stopped, the pain was definitely still there.

"Let's head on over to school to tell the others." Troy said while flinching. Even the sound of his own voice caused him great pain.

Emma gave Troy a quick nod and made their way back to school.

-School-

"Have any of you seen Emma?" Gia asked as she walked up to Noah and Jake. "I didn't see her in Mr. Burley's class and she wasn't here to meet up with me this morning."

"Sorry Gia, I haven't seen her at all today. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen Troy there either." Jake frowned.

Gia's heart skipped a beat as a million possible scenarios ran through her head. Last time she saw Emma, she said that she was going to biking in the woods. Gia's stomach turned at the thought of something bad happening to Emma..

She could've run into a monster, or maybe she ran into a wild animal. Though Emma was a strong individual, she still wouldn't be able to handle one of the monsters by herself. However, running into a wild animal wasn't so great either. Emma is great with animals, but they could still be extremely dangerous.

"Maybe they're just running a little late." Noah suggested.

Gia shook her head worriedly, "Emma's never late though. She's always keeping track of time."

Seeing Gia distressed, Jake put his hand on her shoulder

"It'll be alright Gia, we can look for them once school is over."

"They could be hurt Jake! Anything could've happened to them."

"Just have a little hope. They could be perfectly fine for all we know"

"Get your hands off me Holling." Gia growled." You're either gonna help me look for them, or get lost."

Taking a step back, Jake raised his hands in the air in defeat

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

Gia sighed. "No I'm sorry. It's just…"

Just then, Troy and Emma came in stumbling through the doors. Jake, Gia, and Noah ran over to them as fast as they could.

"Where have you guys been? You've already missed your first class!" Gia exclaimed worriedly

Troy and Emma both winced at the level of her voice

"Don't yell" They both groaned in unison. Their heads were already pounding and screaming in pain

That's when they all noticed pained look on their faces.

"Are you…" Noah started, but was then interrupted by a familiar beeping noise

"Rangers, a new monster called Dizchord has been located in the city. Be cautious of his sound waves, they're powerful enough to send buildings crashing down."

"You don't say." Troy grumbled while rubbing his ears

"I guess that's the terrible sound we heard earlier." Emma said as she looked up to Troy.

Troy nodded and said, "Let's go get this over with guys."

-Battle-

Once the rangers arrived at the city, they found themselves face to face with Dizchord and dozens of loogies.

"I see you have finally decided to join my wonderful concert rangers. Here, allow me to show you my first number!" Dizchord said as he started playing his horrible music, if that's what you could even call it

All the rangers clutched their heads in pain, but Troy and Emma seemed to be doing far worse. While the rangers were on the ground sprawling in pain, the loogies seemed to be amped up, and shot at the rangers.

"Watch out!" Jake yelled

Everyone jumped out of the way in time except for Troy and Emma who couldn't hear a thing. They were sent rolling on the ground demorphed and in agonizing pain.

"We need to retreat and regroup!" Gia suggested. Jake and Noah nodded their heads in agreement and looked over to their demorphed friends. Noah and Jake grabbed Troy and Emma while Gia tried to defend them from the loogies. Once Troy and Emma were in their arms safely, they all teleported back to the command center.


	3. Useless

The rangers all groaned as they ungracefully fell into the command center. Guess they couldn't get the landing down yet.

Gosei's little robotic helper, Tensou, noticed their entrance and used his tiny mechanical wheels to roll over to them.

"It's okay; you'll get the hang of it eventually." Tensou stated as he helped Noah up.

Remembering the state Troy and Emma were in, Gia immediately demorphed and ran to them.

"Are you guys alright?"

"I'm fine, how about you Emma?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Maybe you should get some more rest before the alien shows up again. You guys really took a beating." Noah suggested.

"I think I'll just lay down for a bit." Troy stated

"You should get some rest too Emma." Gia said.

"No I'm fine. I think I'll just get some training done."

"Since when did you become Troy?" Jake chuckled.

"Emma, I really think you should at least lie down." Gia pushed.

"I told you I'm fine."

"If you don't rest up now, you'll have a harder time fighting later."

"I feel perfectly fine though"

"The way you flinch in pain every time I talk tells me otherwise."

Unfortunately, this was true. Emma's head was throbbing in pain, and her eardrums felt like they were going to explode. Every muscle in her body ached, but she wouldn't back down. Troy was most likely in the same exact state as Emma too, except he would actually accept to get some type of rest.

"Em, if you don't rest now, you're not going to be much of a help in the battlefield."

"I'm useless." Emma whispered.

"Emma, I never said ..."

"You didn't have to. It's obvious!"

"Is that what's been bothering you? You've been feeling useless? Em, you're…"

"Useless..." Emma reiterated

"Em, don't say that! You…."

"Just leave me alone!" Emma yelled as she raced past the others.

Gia attempted to grab Emma's arm, but she barely managed to slip past her. Before Gia could do anything else, Emma abruptly teleported out of the command center.

Just as Gia was about to follow Emma, the alien alarm detector went off causing Troy to clutch his head in pain.

"Really?" Troy said painfully.

"Rangers, Dizchord has been located in the park, but be careful, there seems to be another alien life form detected near that area." Gosei stated.

Gia sighed. "I'll go after…"

"No, I'll go after Emma." Troy interrupted. "You three go to the park, and deal with the monster while I go talk to Emma. Hopefully we will be able to meet you there soon.

"Troy, are you sure about this? She's never really had an outburst like this before, she'a usually able to keep a calm composure, which means that this is something serious. I know that we're all friends, but we are still trying to get to know each other; I think I should be the one to talk to her

"It'll be fine Gia, I can handle it. Besides, I wouldn't be much of a help on the battlefield. I can barely withstand the sound of our voices right now." Troy argued.

"Wait, we got to find a way to drown out the monster's noise first. There's no use to go into battle if our eardrums are gonna get blasted like this guy." Jake pointed out as he flicked his thumb towards Troy.

"We were caught off guard." Troy grumbled.

"For once, Jake actually has a good point. I guess there is a brain in that skull of yours." Gia teased.

Forgetting about Troy's injury, Jake clasped his hands together loudly as an idea formed in his head.

"I got it!" Jake yelled excitedly.

"Ugh, Jake, sensitive ears remember?" Troy said while rubbing his ears.

"Oh crap, sorry! Jake said apologetically.

"Just tell them your plan already." Troy complained.

"Ear plugs! We can use ear plugs to simply mute the monster's music. Then, we can fight Dizchord without worrying about the monster destroying our eardrums."

"Jake, that's brilliant! Wow, you actually had a good idea for once, huh that's new. But where are we going to get eardrums from, you don't happen to have any on you, do you? Noah asked

"Uhh, oops I didn't really think about that."

"I knew Jake coming up with a good plan was too good to be true." Gia said while shaking her head.

"Hey!"

After a few more moments of thinking, Noah's suddenly clapped his hands together excitedly. "I know what to do!"

"C'mon, really?" Troy exclaimed while pointing to his ears.

Gia rolled her eyes. "Suck it up Troy, let him speak. Go ahead Noah."

Noah smiled, "Thank you. Anyways, why don't we use our iPods to drown out the monster's noise?"

Noah had a valid point. Each of the rangers patted down themselves to feel for the IPods. Turns out, most of them had theirs. Even though they weren't normal teenagers, they were still teenagers.

"And that's why Noah is the genius nerd in our group." Jake teased.

"Ugh, of course I'm the only one who doesn't have their IPod. I must have left mine inside my backpack at school." Troy grumbled. "Well, I guess I'll figure it out later. You three go on ahead to the park to stop Dizchord. Be careful."

Before leaving, Gia slowly walked up to Troy to warn him.

"Don't let me down Troy, or else that monster's butt won't be the only one I'll be whooping."

"I'll be gentle." Troy promised.

"You better be. If anything happens to her, I know who to kill"

"I'm just going to talk to her. I would never want to hurt anyone here, especially Emma."

Seeing the determined look on Troy's face, Gia decided to put her trust in Troy. She gave Troy a quick nod, and turned around to face the others.

"Let's go kick some alien butt"

Nodding their heads in agreement, the three of them teleported out of the command center to confront Dizchord.

Once the others left, Troy immediately turned his attention to finding Emma. He wouldn't disappoint Gia and he would definitely not let Emma down.

"Tensou, do you think you could send me the coordinates to Emma's location on my morpher?" Troy asked

"You got it!" Tensou replied happily.

"Thanks Tensou, you're the best."

And with that, Troy left the command center so he could go talk to Emma.


	4. A Comforting Conversation

Once Tensou teleported Troy to Emma's location, he immediately started to look for Emma. After searching for a few minutes, he eventually found her sitting next to the same tree he found her near earlier. He walked up to her and expected her to be sobbing, but her face was clearly dry. However, he could tell Emma was still upset by just looking at her eyes.

Before Troy could even say anything, Emma looked up at him, hugged her knees, and said, "I don't want to talk."

"You obviously need to let something out. It can just stay between us; even Gia doesn't have to know.

"I've known Gia my whole life, and I still don't want to talk to her about this. What makes you think I would open up to you? I've known you for three months!"

"You know, it okay to not be okay. You don't have to open up to me if you don't want to, I'm not gonna force, but I'll always be ready if you ever want to talk.. " Troy replied with a soft smile.

"It's fine; I've accepted that I'll be the deadweight of the team. Sorry in advance for all the times I'll screw up."

Troy frowned. He wasn't directly mad at Emma, but was upset that she would put herself down like that.

"Emma…."

"Shouldn't you be fighting with your team anyways?"

Troy decided to sit next to her and gently grabbed her hand.

"We wouldn't be a full team without you."

"Why would you need me? I'm useless."

"You're just as important as the others; it wouldn't be full team without you. Plus, no one ever said you were useless"

"That's what you think" Emma unconsciously whispered.

"What?"

Trying to correct her mistake, Emma came up with a quick response. "Nothing, I just asked, how am I important? Everyone else is amazing, there's nothing I could possibly do to help them. The team would be perfectly fine without me."

"Emma, you don't have to be perfect, no one is. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. We work together as a team to make up for each other's weaknesses"

"I have a bunch of weaknesses though. Sure, I make A's and B's on report cards and get some exercise from all the BMX riding, but I'm nowhere near as strong or smart as Jake and Noah. You're already a great leader, and Gia is like a mixture of all you.

"Stop comparing yourself to the others. Like I said, we all have our own weaknesses. Noah may be smart, but he isn't exactly the strongest guy either. Jake makes up for that with his strength, but he sometimes tends to act before thinking about it. That's probably why they work so well together, they make up for each other's weaknesses.

"But…."

"I'm not exactly perfect either, and the same thing goes for Gia."

Troy faced Emma to make eye contact and almost got lost into her beautiful brown eyes. Truth be told, he developed a crush on Emma ever since they started working together.

In his eyes, she was near perfect; he just needed to show her that without giving the wrong impression. Even though Troy liked her, he knew that it wasn't the right time. He wouldn't become the type of guy that courted the girl while she was vulnerable. It wouldn't be fair or right to Emma if he did that.

"Emma, you're the heart the keeps us functioning. You're the glue that keeps us together. You may not be the strongest or smartest, but you're able to endure. Your perseverance beats all of ours combined. Gia told me about your passion for protecting the earth and helping others before becoming a ranger. She even said that you still continue to volunteer at different shelters and do things like recycle even though you're busy with school and you know, saving the world. You weren't chosen to become a ranger by accident, fate made it happen.

Troy just continued to stare at Emma, waiting for her to say something.

Emma broke the silence when she muttered, "You really mean that?"

Troy smiled and gently squeezed her hand, "With all my heart, and I'm confident that the others feel the same exact way too."

Troy was expecting her to perk up, but he didn't expect this. Emma threw herself at Troy and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in a tight hug.

"Thank you." Emma whispered into Troy's ear 

Troy was happy that Emma couldn't see his face, or else she would have seen him blushing. He had never felt this way with anyone else, his face was as red as a tomtoe. When Emma finally pulled away, he couldn't help but notice a bluish-black bruise on Emma's neck.

"Umm, Emma, what's up with bruise on your neck?" Troy asked worriedly.

Emma's eyes widened, but tried to keep a calm composure.

"Oh you know, just another bruise from one of the monsters we've fought before." She replied casually.

"It's already feeling better." Emma continued as she carefully put her hand over it.

Troy didn't want to dig in or pressure her anymore, so he decided to drop it. However, he would take note of this for future reference.

"Alright, if you say so." Troy said hesitantly.

"As glad as I am to see you feel better, we still have a monster to finish off." Troy said, trying to change the subject.

"Phew, that was close" Emma thought as a wave of relief washed over her.

"Yeah, but how are we going to fight it? I can just barely manage to withstand our voices right now. There's no way we can take another hit like we did last time." Emma stated.

"When there's a will, there a way." Troy smirked as an idea formed in his head.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, confused by Troy's answer.

"I'll explain later. Just follow me for now." Troy declared as he started running off.


	5. The Concert's Finale

On the midst of the battlefield, the three remaining rangers were finishing up the remaining loogies one by one. Luckily, they were able to listen to their music under their helmets. It wasn't able to block out all of the noise, but it was a lot better than writhing on the ground in pain like before. They all had a slight headache, but at least they were able to fight.

Once they finished slashing down the last of the loogies, they turned to the stage to see Dizchord hooking up his guitar to a strange device. Seeing that Dizchord was distracted, the rangers took the opportunity, and shot at the monster. Fortunately, all three shots connected and they were able to catch his attention

"Hey! You're ruining my concert; ugh I should have hired more security guards." Dizchord complained.

Inside their helmets, the rangers rolled the eyes in annoyance. They just wanted to get this battle over with, it was already getting late. The rangers took their respective fighting stances until they felt a stinging pain on their backs. The pain wasn't too bad, but the sudden impact caused them to lose their balance. As they got back up, they turned around to see what had hit them.

"Seems like my client needed some back-up." The strange blue figure said.

"Took them long enough to send me some quality security." Dizchord scoffed "At least I can get this show started! And with device, I can let the whole world enjoy my music!

Gia looked at the boys and said, "We need to stop him, now! We can worry about that other one later."

They all rushed to the stage, but were stopped when the blue figure jumped down in front of them.

"I'm afraid I can't let you bother my client right now. He's in the middle of prepping for a wonderful worldwide concert. Everyone on the whole entire Earth will be able to listen to his astounding songs!"

"Great, now we gotta deal with this feathered bird thing too?" Jake grumbled.

"My name is Vrak, remember that!" He growled as he initiated the fight.

-Battle-

Troy and Emma came just in time to see Jake get flipped by a strange new figure.

"Wait, that's not the same monster we were facing earlier. Don't tell me there's another one." Troy frowned.

"I guess we get to have more fun." Emma replied sarcastically.

Suddenly, Troy and Emma fell to the ground in excruciating pain once again as Dizchord played a chord on his new amped up guitar. This time, the noise was a lot louder, and ten times more painful. The pain started in their heads and slowly traveled down their spines until all of their muscles ached, it was nearly intolerable.

"We need to help them!" Emma yelled as she saw Gia get kicked in the stomach. Seeing her friends in danger, Emma forced herself to stand up. "We have to do something!"

Troy wasn't able to get up completely like Emma, but he managed to get on his knees.

"Emma, you need to sing!" Troy exclaimed with a raised voice to make sure Emma could hear him. The pain was starting to build up; he wasn't sure how much longer he could last. He couldn't even believe Emma was able stand up.

"What? Why?! Don't tell me this was part of your plan." Emma asked nervously.

"Of course it is" Troy smirked.

"But, I can't. No one would probably even hear me."

Though it was hard to move, he willed himself to gently grab Emma's hand. "Yes you can Emma, all you gotta do is believe in yourself. Just sing, and leave the rest to me."

"But…"

"Trust me."

Believing in Troy, Emma closer her eyes, and started to sing the first song that popped into her mind.

"Flowers bloom, bloom and share your sweet perfume.

Flowers bloom, bloom so many things to see

The sweet serenity

Sooth my mind, sooth my soul."

As Emma continued to sing, Troy pulled out his morpher.

"Twist tornado card!" Troy shouted.

Using the card's special powers, Troy carried the sound from Emma's beautiful voice to counteract the monster's noise. After all, the best way to fix bad music was to overpower it with real, genuine music.

"What is that wretched sound?" Dizchord proclaimed while clutching his head in agony

Now that the monster stopped playing, Troy was able to slowly get up and morph.

"Go, Go Megaforce!"Troy cried out he morphed into the red Megaforce ranger.

Now that the monster was weakened, Troy took advantage of the situation and called for his dragon sword. He quickly ran up to the stage and with one quick swipe, destroyed the amplifier. Once Troy watched the amp blow up, he turned to Dizchord, looking at him with a leer

"Oh no." Dizchord gulped.

-Battle-

Everyone turned around to see who stopped the monsters noise and to their surprise, it was Emma!

"Whoa, I didn't know Emma could sing." Noah said in awe.

Vrak growled saying, "If she's the cause of this, then I'll just have to end her!"

"Oh no you don't!" Gia yelled as she sliced through Vrak's chest with her trusty tiger claw.

Seeing that his armor was already getting damaged and Dizchord sparking, Vrak knew that this fight was lost. He quickly dodged the yellow ranger's next attack and shoved her to the ground. While the black and blue rangers were helping her get back up, he took the opportunity to teleport back to his ship for a temporary retreat.

"At least he's out of the way for now." Jake commented.

"Doesn't mean he'll come back again later." Noah added

"Well, we can worry about that later, we need to go help Troy." Gia interrupted.

-Battle-

Troy was handling himself fairly well against the monster. Emma's singing continued to weaken the monster, making it easier and easier for Troy to fight. However, he would need a little more fire power to finish off Dizchord completely.

"Troy!" The others yelled in unison.

Troy turned around for a moment to see his friends running up to him.

"Everyone, I want you to aim your sword at the monster's guitar on his chest. I think that's his weak spot."

Following their leader's orders, each of them charged up their attack and slashed right at the monster's chest. Troy finished off the attack with a final stab at the monster's heart. Seconds later, the monster exploded, only leaving his ash in the dust.

Troy and the others demorphed, took out their headphones, then walked back to where Emma was.

"Wow Emma, I didn't know you could sing so well. I've known you all my life and I have never heard you sing before." Gia complimented.

"Emma, you killed it!" Jake exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeah Emma, you did kill it, you practically killed the monster." Noah teased.

Emma was blushing heavily already and didn't even know what to say.

"So, got anymore hidden talents that you need to share?" Gia asked jokingly as she wrapped her arm around her best friend's shoulders.

"I do!" Jake said with a raised hand. "Check out my smooth dance moves"

"Oh no." Noah cried as he face palmed himself. He already knew that Jake was a bad dancer and started to chuckle when he saw the disturbed look on the others' faces.

"Pretty good moves Holling." Gia said. Everyone then stared at Gia, shocked that she would say that.

"Thanks!" Jake beamed brightly.

"If you're trying to look like a dying duck." Gia finished with a sly grin plastered all over her face.

"Hey!"

"Okay, maybe it's time to go home, it's getting late." Troy interrupted with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, my parents are going to freak if I don't get home soon. I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to run out of excuses towards why I come home late and with new bruises." Noah expressed.

"Tell me about." The others groaned in unison. They knew they had to keep this whole ranger thing a secret from everyone, even their own parents. It could only put them in a lot more danger.

After everyone said their goodbyes, they all started walking to their respective homes. However, Gia couldn't leave without talking to Troy first.

~Note: Don't worry, I know that I didn't have the megazord battle included. I'm trying to focus more on their personal lives and use the show simply as a guide. However, I'll probably never write about the megazord battles that often. I'm trying to mold the show into something different so I can make it into my own little original story. Also, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story. I honestly didn't think this story would reach over 10 reviews; I really appreciate the feedback!


	6. Not A Home

"Wait, hold on Troy!" Gia called as she ran up to him.

Troy turned around with a curious look on his face and asked, "Yeah what's up?"

"Thanks for bring Emma back, but mind telling me what was wrong in the first place?" Gia asked.

"She's been feeling really insecure and didn't think she was worthy enough…"

"That's ridiculous!" Gia interrupted.

"Let me finish first. She felt like that earlier, but I'm pretty sure she's okay now; she just might need an ego boost from time to time. What worries me is that she had a bruise on her neck. She says it's from fighting the monsters, but my gut tells me otherwise."

"She could be telling the truth, but she does tend to lie about these sort of things. Maybe we should ask her?"

Troy shook his head, "You of all people should know how hard it is for her to open up. We just have to wait until the time is right and be prepared for anything.

Gia let out a big sigh, "I wish I could do more, she's done so much for me."

"Just wait for her to open up."

"I'm worried that she never will, she's been like that ever since her mom died."

Troy gave Gia a comforting smile, "Don't give up on her. She needs you by her side. Besides, you're not going to be alone. You have a whole team to back you up."

"You know, you don't have to suck up to me. I already know you like Emma. You show the same goofy smile and get a glimmer in your eyes every time you see her" Gia exclaimed while rolling her eyes.

"No, no, no. That has nothing to do with it. Well, yeah I like Emma, but um uhh.."

Gia chuckled and gave Troy a pat on the back. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you." Then, Gia leaned in closer to Troy's ear and whispered, "Emma is practically my sister. If you hurt her, then we're gonna have to find new red ranger."

Troy felt a shiver down his spine as the words sunk in. He slowly backed away and gave her a nervous smile.

"See you tomorrow at school." Troy said as he ran off home.

"Good guy, I like him." Gia thought while showing off a pleased smirk.

-Emma's home-

Honestly, Emma didn't want to go home. If she could have it her way, she would never go home. The only thing waiting for her at home was either an empty house or an angry dad. She was really hoping it was the first choice.

Emma slowly walked to her doorstep and quietly walked in. She closed the silently closed the door and ran halfway up the stairs before she heard her dad.

"Emma! I heard you come home, get your butt here right now!" Her dad, Marc, roared.

Not wanting to upset her father, she shakily walked back downstairs.

"And where do you think you've been? I got a call from the school that you missed the whole day! I pay for your education and this is what you do to me? You skip school and come home late?" he shouted.

"I can explain, I…"

"I don't give a damn!"

Marc stomped over to Emma, grabbed her arm tightly, and pushed her to the wall.

"You made my very special guest wait." Marc snarled.

Suddenly, a blonde woman with blue eyes came out of the kitchen, "Huh so this is the little slut you told me about. Maybe she was out getting knocked up with another guy." She snickered.

"No, I wasn't! Who the heck are you anyways? I was just…."

Emma was interrupted with a kick to the stomach, "You will not speak to her that way, show her some respect! Her name is Randi, and she will be your new step- mother whether you like it or not!" he shouted.

Emma's eyes widened in shock as she got back up, "You'll never be my mom! You're…"

Marc shoved Emma back onto the ground in pure anger, "I put you on the ground, you stay on the ground! Randi will be your new step-mother; you will obey and treat her correctly! I don't care about what you think, we're already engaged. You better not kill this one." He growled.

"But Dad, I never killed mom. I tried to save her! When we got in the accident, I tried to stop the bleeding! I wasn't even the one who hit the car!" Emma responded, trying to fight back the tears. She was used to getting beaten, but she couldn't handle all of this.

"You let her die! You could've done more! You put this on yourself, you deserve this." He said as he kicked her one final time in the shin.

Before Emma's mom died, Marc actually used to be a loving man. Once the love of his life died, he started drinking and smoking, causing him to become an extremely violent man. He snapped easily, blamed everything on Emma, and started mistreating her ever since. However, Marc would hide his abusive side when he went into public. For example, when the Moran family invited them over to dinner, he would put on a façade and pretend to be like the man he was before. No one would be able to believe that he became a twisted, abusive father. No one could be able to tell. And Marc made sure to keep it that way.

He would constantly threaten Emma and throw a few punches at her to make sure she knew he was serious. He knew that if he scared her enough, he could control her. Deep down, Emma wanted to believe that her father still loved her and would apologize, but she knew that her real father was long gone already. Her father was gone, her mother was gone, and she felt alone.

Emma whimpered in pain as she rubbed on her shin, she could already feel the bruise forming.

"Now go make me and Randi some dinner before I decide to stop being generous. Make it snappy!"

Not wanting to anger her father further, Emma picked herself up from the ground and limped to the kitchen.

"Why don't you just kick her out of the house already? She's a piece of trash that doesn't deserve a man like you taking care of her." Randi scoffed while wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Don't worry babe, that'll be the first thing I do on her eighteenth birthday. She'll be out of our way forever, and maybe she'll die on the streets if we're lucky." Marc replied as he started kissing her.

A few moments later, Emma brought their dinner and put it on the table next to them.

"Here's your dinner." Emma whispered.

"We can finish this later Randi." Marc said as he picked up his food. He took a bite and immediately spit it out.

"What the hell is this crap?" Marc howled as he threw the plate on the ground.

Emma flinched as pieces of the glass got caught into her leg.

"I just warmed up some of the leftovers in the fridge." Emma said faintly.

"You just can't do anything right, can you? Just get that cleaned up, and get out of my sight! I don't want to see your face for the rest of the night!"

Though the words were harsh, Emma felt relieved that she didn't have to be in her dad's presence anymore. She rapidly cleaned up the mess and hastily retreated into her room. Once she was safe in her room, she locked the door, jumped on her bed, and quietly sobbed to herself. She felt afraid. She felt alone. She felt like her life was a living nightmare. This wasn't home for Emma, it was hell.


	7. Denial

The next day, Emma agreed to meet up with Gia a couple of minutes before school started. Emma made sure to hide the new bruises on her legs by wearing long jeans instead of her usual pink shorts. She knew that if someone saw her new injuries, they would definitely question it. Deep down inside, Emma wanted to scream for help, but she was more terrified of what her father would do to her if he found out that she told someone about his abusive actions. His anger was erratic when he lashed out, he could probably even kill Emma if he wanted to. How could she fight the aliens if she was frightened by her own dad? Shaking her head to keep the thoughts away, Emma closed her locker and saw Gia walking towards her.

"Hey Gia!" Emma smiled as she closed her locker

"Morning Emma…. whoa" Gia exclaimed while pointing to her jeans, "New look?"

"Yeah, it's starting to get cold so I decided to try wearing jeans. Just to try something new. "

"Hmm, not saying it looks bad, but it might take me a while to get used to. You've always worn those pink shorts.

Just then, the warning bell rang, signaling that they only had five minutes before class started.

"We better start heading to class before we're late" Emma said as she started walking.

As Emma walked away, Gia noticed the slight limp on Emma's right leg. Concerned for her friend, she caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her. Emma flinched when Gia grabbed the same arm her dad grabbed her with. She was pretty sure there was bruise on the shape of his hand there.

Noticing the way Emma flinched when she touched her arm, Gia felt even more concerned. "Emma are you okay?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine."

Gia crossed her arms and gave Emma a frown. "Emma, you need to stop this! I know you're not okay! I saw the way you flinched when I grabbed your arm; I wasn't even gripping it that hard! I saw the slight limp on your leg! I know about the bruise on your neck, Em you can't hide these things from me!

Gia gently grabbed Emma's arm. "If someone is hurting you, you have to tell someone. You're only protecting them by keeping it to yourself. Tell me Em, is it a bully? A guy? Oh God no, please don't tell me you've been hurting yourself. I just can't watch you fall apart like this! Please tell me something, anything." Gia begged.

"No! I'm not hurting myself, how could you even think that?" Emma frowned. "Wait, I never told you about the bruise on my neck. How did you find out?

"Troy told me earlier. I…"

"He told you?" Emma interrupted.

"Well, yeah but that's not the point."

"He told you everything?" Emma questioned as she clutched her hand in frustration

"Yeah, but…."

"I trusted him!

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait. He never mentioned it had to stay between you. Besides, if something concerns you, then it concerns me. "

"I didn't think I would have to tell him to keep that conversation to himself! Why were you even talking to him about that?

"I couldn't keep standing in the sidelines. I needed to know…"

"Why can't you just mind your own business?

Emma stormed off angrily into Mr. Burley's class as the bell rang. On her way over, Troy happened to see Emma and walked up to her.

"Good morning Emma, how's it going?" Troy asked with his usual soft smile.

"Leave me alone." Emma growled as she continued to stomp her way over to her class.

Confused by Emma's response, Troy ran up to Gia, hoping that she had an answer to Emma's reaction. "Please tell me you're not the cause of Emma's outburst.

When he saw the guilty look on Gia's face he immediately knew the answer. "What happened?" Troy asked.

"I accidentally slipped out that you told me about the whole bruise thing. Then, she started asking me more questions and I couldn't bring myself lie to her. I didn't even know that conversation between you and Emma was supposed to be private."

"Me either." Troy groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair."I told you to be patient and to wait for her to open up by herself!"

"I just wanted to help her." Gia muttered.

"Look, maybe we can sort this whole thing out afterschool. For now, just give Emma some space so she can cool down."

-Afterschool-

Once school ended, Emma bolted out of her classroom for two reasons. First of all, she didn't want to see or talk to Gia and Troy. She wasn't even that mad at them, but it felt like her two closest friends betrayed her. Secondly, her dad texted her earlier that he was going to pick her up and she definitely didn't want to keep her dad waiting for long.

"Emma, wait!" Both Troy and Gia called.

Knowing that it was no use to ignore them, she turned around.

"What do you want?" Emma groaned in annoyance. She then pointed to the exit door where she could see her dad coming in. "My dad is picking me up; I really don't want to keep him waiting."

"Here I'll go talk to him to keep him busy." Gia offered. "Troy, speak on my behalf too."

"No! Don't!" Emma panicked while desperately reaching out to grab Gia's arm, but it was already too late. Gia slipped past her grip and started to make a conversation with her dad. Emma just hoped it had nothing to do with her injuries, or else she would never hear the end of it once she got home.

Noticing Emma's reaction, Troy gently grabbed Emma's hand and pulled her away from her dad's sight. "This has something to do at home, doesn't it?" Troy asked in a kind yet concerned voice.

"No." She murmured in a barely audible voice. Emma turned away and looked at the ground. "Just please stay out of this. Both you and Gia need to stop bringing this up. Please, I'm begging you."

Those words made Troy's heart sink. Seeing her so vulnerable and hurt made him want to protect her even more.

Sighing in defeat, Troy gave Emma a friendly hug and whispered into her ear, "We'll get to the bottom of this. We'll find a way to help you."

"Don't"

Emma pulled away, shook her head in disapproval, and walked away. She wanted to emphasize the dangers of them helping her, but she was fearful of what would happen if she made her father wait any longer.

On the other hand, Gia was trying to stall Mr. Goodall until Troy finished talking to Emma.

"Sorry Gia, but I really need to go get Emma then head on home. I needed to have a serious talk with her."

Gia furrowed her brow, "A serious talk? Did something happen?" Gia asked as if she knew nothing.

"No, it's a personal family matter; nothing too serious." Mr. Goodall replied casually while trying to cover up his mistake.

Because Gia didn't know about Mr. Goodall's violent side, she thought that he was still a kind man who deeply cared for his daughter. Even Gia never expected Mr. Goodall to be the very source of Emma's pain.

Looking around to make sure no one could hear them, Gia whispered, "Does it have something to do Emma's injuries?"

Mr. Goodall widened his eyes, but not because he was shocked. He was fully aware of the bruises that he caused; the real question was, why did Gia know? "No, I didn't know at all! When? Where? Why? How?" He asked as if he was stunned. Behind his façade, he was pissed that Emma let the others know about her bruises. If anyone caught on, his life would be spent in jail. He wouldn't let that happen, he would emphasize that with Emma when he got home, but for now, he needed to seem as innocent as possible.

"I can't believe that she would hide something like that from me" He walked over and leaned on the wall with his hands on his hand.

"It's just been so hard after Emma's mom died. I don't know what to do anymore."

Feeling bad for the single father, Gia gave him a comforting squeeze on his shoulder. "It'll be okay . If you ever need anything, just call. I'm pretty sure that my family would be more than happy to help you out."

In the corner of his eye, could see Emma walking up to him so he could finally go home. After this close call, he would make sure she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"Thank you Gia, but I really have to go home now. Let's go Emma." He said as he took Emma's arm and guided her out.

Once they were out of sight, he tightened his grip around Emma and pushed her against the car door."Get inside the car! You'll receive a more fitting punishment at home! For now, just keep your blabbering mouth closed!" he demanded.

Frightened, Emma curled up into a ball in the back seat and prayed for a miracle. She didn't want this anymore. She didn't even want to think about what her father would do to her when she got home.

"Help" she whispered.

-School-

"Gia!" Troy raced over, "Did she leave yet?"

"Yeah, she just left with her Dad"

"What's Emma's address?"

"3871 Chesterfield Lane. Why? What are you doing?" Gia questioned as she saw Troy gathering up his stuff.

"I'm done sitting on the sidelines too. I'm going to go do some researching."

"Wait, I want to help too."

Troy knew about the close relationship between the Goodall and Moran family. He had his suspicions, but he couldn't be quite sure just yet. If Gia knew that he distrusted Mr. Goodall, who was almost like her second father, she could get offended and become defensive. Instead of her helping him, she could become more of an obstacle.

"It's fine; this is more of a solo mission. Go hang out with the guys or something" Troy yelled as he ran out of the door.


	8. Conflicted and Confused

When Emma and her dad got home, she was immediately met with a fist to the stomach.

"You're not getting off easy this time" He screamed while leaving Emma to go close the blinds

"How dare you let someone find out!"

He then took Emma's arm and roughly dragged her into the dining room. Emma curled up into a tight ball as a way to protect herself as her father repeatedly hit her. When he saw Emma's blood on his hands, his anger fueled even more.

"This won't happen again, you hear me!" Mr. Goodall shouted as he threw another punch.

Unbeknownst to them, Troy was right outside their house. Silently, he opened one of the windows and slightly pulled on the blinds so he could see what was happening. He honestly hoped that his accusations were wrong, and that it was all just in his head. When he saw beating on Emma, his heart raced and became boiling with anger. He wanted to burst in and beat the absolute crap out of him, but he knew it wasn't the right time; he needed more evidence and a witness.

In Emma's perspective, she could see Troy peeking into her house. Though her dad was constantly punching and kicking her, she had learned to block it all out. After all, his beating seemed to be like a daily routine to her.

However, she couldn't stand if one of her friends got hurt, especially Troy. In fact, her dad would threaten Emma to keep these secrets, or else he would hurt those who were close to her. Troy was one of the first guys to show loyalty and kindness to her, he didn't deserve her and all of her burdens. Now that Troy knew her secret, she became afraid of what would happen next. Surely, he would tell everyone and her father would somehow find out. Before they could get a chance to save her, Emma was positive that she would be dead by then. All these thoughts raced through Emma's head but for now, she needed to get him out of there before her dad noticed him, and fast!

Mr. Goodall seemed to read Emma's mind and looked to what she was staring at. His eyes widened in fury as he recognized one of Emma's friends. When Troy and made eye contact, Troy immediately started to run. Mr Goodal thought about going after him, but he knew that there would be no point to chase him. He was younger and most likely had more stamina. However, he wasn't entirely worried. No one would believe him; after all, he always seemed to be a "good" father to everyone. A smirk appeared on his face as a plan formed through his head.

"Hey Emma, have you missed Randi?" He asked maliciously.

-Ernie's BrainFreeze-

Troy's lungs were burning as he ran to Ernie's BrainFreeze. While Troy was running for his life, he managed to text everyone on the team to meet up with him at Ernie's BrainFreeze. When he finally got there, he took one last glance behind him. He was surprised to see that hadn't followed him, but decided to not question it. He eventually saw everyone sitting at a table near the corner of the shop.

"I know why Emma's been acting differently." Troy said frantically. "I don't know the whole story, but I do know that her dad has been physically abusing her. I saw him hit her!

Before he could continue, Troy was met with a fist to the face. As he got back up, he could feel Gia's glare piercing through him. Jake immediately got up and grabbed Gia by the arm in a gentle yet firm hold.

"How could you say that Troy?! Mr. Goodall is a good man! He practically helped raise me! There is no way he could do something like that to Emma!" Gia screamed.

"I'm sorry Gia, but this isn't something I would lie about."

"Where's your proof?"

"I didn't get a chance to get any, but.."

"No proof, so I'm not believing."

"Gia please, we need to find a way to bring Emma's dad to justice. He's hurting her, he's hurting your best friend."

"There's no way he would, you filthy liar!"

"Gia, I don't think this is something Troy would lie about. I mean c'mon, he Troy. Plus, it's the only logical solution you guys have right now. " Noah pointed out.

"It's not logical, its bull…"

"Gia!"

Feeling like she couldn't trust anyone, Gia stomped out of the store in frustration. She was going to get answers, and she was going to get it her own way.

"Wait, Gia!" Jake called as he tried going after her. However, he was grabbed by the arm by Troy who was shaking his head.

"We need to wait for her to cool off, she isn't going to listen to anyone in that state."

"Mind filling us in on what's happened. I tried backing you up there, but I don't really know what's going on."Noah asked.

"Yeah dude, you better have a good explanation for this." Jake added.

Releasing a big sigh, Troy decided to fill them in on what happened.

"It started when…"

-A Real Ranger's Life-

Gia couldn't believe what she had just heard. And here she was thinking that Troy could actually be a good boyfriend for Emma. How could he accuse Emma's dad like that, he's always been a good man in her eyes. Or, that's what she thought.

To get to the bottom of this, Gia decided to pay a visit. She wanted to at least to talk him about all of this. Maybe he would know what was troubling Emma. Once she knocked on the door, Mr. Goodall opened the door with an innocent smile

"Hello Gia, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Mr. Goodall, can we talk?"

"Sorry Gia, but this isn't a good time."

"Please, it's about Emma. Emma's friend, Troy, accused you of abusing Emma. He claims that he saw you hitting her earlier."

For the sake of the plan, Mr. Goodall pretended to look hurt and shocked.

"Me? No! I could never do something like that to Emma! She's my whole life, she's all I have left"

With a satisfied smile, Gia had to do one last thing to confirm if Emma was okay.

"Is it okay if I see Emma real quick, I just need to talk to her for a little?"

"I'm afraid you can't do it right now Gia. Emma said she wanted some alone time."

Once Marc had closed the door, he went downstairs into the basement where Emma was lying on the floor tied up with duck tape covering her mouths. There were bruises, cuts, and other injuries everywhere; She was a black and blue mess! Satisfied with seeing the unconscious Emma on the floor, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey babe, I got a plan. I finally have a way to get rid of Emma, but a few obstacles have come in the way, but there's no need to fear. I have an idea to make this work. So the plan is…."

Not wanting to push his buttons, Gia thanked and made her way back home. She didn't live very far, so she decided to just walk. On her way home, Gia could hear pained sobs. After looking around the area, she found a middle aged women with sandy blonde hair crying.

"Uhh, are you okay Miss?" Gia asked cautiously.

"Please, oh please. I need your help!" The mysterious women begged.

"What's wrong?"

"My current boyfriend's daughter has been threatening me. She even punched me in the face to prove her point "The women exclaimed while facing Gia so she could see her black eye.

Feeling sympathy for the women, she decided to help her out a little. Maybe she could call the cops for her, or send her to the hospital in case she had sustained any other injuries

"What're their names?"

"My boyfriend's name is Marc Goodall."

Hearing this, Gia felt a lump in the back of her throat and froze. She could recognize that name anywhere after all, that was the name of Emma's dad.

"The one that hit me was his daughter, Emma. Please Gia, you need to help me, I love Marc, and he's a good man. He has no idea what Emma has been doing to me though, I can't just blurt out that she's been threatening me. He'll never believe me."

Gia couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. She couldn't tell who was telling the truth anymore, what this woman had told her had been the exact opposite of what Troy had told her. However, this woman was still a stranger after all, and Troy was her team mate. Then again, Troy has only been her teammate for a few months too. There was no way Gia could ever think that any of these events could happen; Emma was her best friend, and Mr. Goodall was like a second father. Feeling confused and conflicted, Gia gently grabbed the woman's hand and guided her to Mr. Goodall's house.

"Where are we going?"

"To get answers." Gia replied hastily.

"Now what's your name?"

"My name is Randi."

**Sorry, it's been a very long time since I've updated. Unfortunately, I got really busy with my personal life and it may remain like this for a while. I'll update whenever I have the free time. I love doing this, it's just a matter of finding the time to do it. Thank you to everyone who has left a review, I really appreciate reading them and getting the feedback. Until next time!**


	9. A Capture and An Escape

At Ernie's brainfreeze, Troy had just finished explaining everything he knew to Noah and Jake.

"Look man, I know its friends before chicks and all, but are you really serious right now?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, no offence, but your story sounds a little farfetched. I can understand why Gia acted the way she did, especially after she's known the guy for years." Noah added.

"That's exactly why I didn't want her to know yet, but something had to be done. Look guys, I'm being completely honest, there's nothing more I want to do than to run and help Emma right now, but I can't do it by myself. We need a plan. If you don't believe me, fine. I'll go save her myself if I have to." Troy said while giving a serious stare to show his seriousness.

"What? And give you all the credit as the knight in shining armor?" Jake smirked.

"We'll help, but I hope you're right about this." Noah said hesitantly.

"Please Noah, I need your complete trust." Troy pleaded.

Seeing the determination burning within Troy, Noah cracked a smile and nodded his head. "I trust you."

"So what's going to happen now?" Jake asked.

"First, we need to find Gia before anything happens to her too."

"I can do that!" Jake happily agreed.

"We'll look for her together. The last thing we need is to split up."

"Where do we start our search?" Noah asked.

"Maybe she went to go talk to Emma."

"That's my best guess too Jake, but I hope didn't do anything to her yet."

"We need to go now then" Jake said as he raced off with Troy and Noah following him.

A Real Ranger's Life

After an hour of searching, the guys finally found Gia walking with a mysterious stranger. Troy signaled for Jake and Noah to stay as he ran up to Gia.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Jake said as they all hid behind a bush.

"Same here, look… I'm going to find a way to separate Gia and whoever she's with. I'll tell her to find you guys, and I want you to keep her away from ."

"Are you sure about this?" Noah questioned.

"Yeah, if something happened to Gia, Emma would never forgive me."

"Dude, we all know you both like each other, but Gia isn't your responsibility." Jake said, urging to leave right now to get Gia.

Troy understood how Jake felt, but knew he had to do this. Anything could happen, and he didn't want to risk someone else's life, if it had to be anyone, it would be his own. He put his hand on Jake's shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking, but you need to trust me. I need you to watch Gia once I separate them; I'm trusting that you'll keep her separated and safe."

Releasing a sigh, Jake nodded his head and watched as Troy ran up to Gia. He grabbed Noah's arm and they both hid behind a bush.

"Gia!" Troy shouted while running to her.

"Troy?" Gia said in confusion. She wasn't furious with him at the moment, but she could still feel some anger.

"Who's she?"

"None of your business" Gia scoffed. "What're you doing here anyways?"

"The guys found Emma." Troy lied; he needed some type of excuse. He didn't like lying, but he knew that would be the only way for Gia to listen to him. "She was in the forest crying and thought that you could help comfort her.

When Randi heard this, she furrowed her brow.

"Emma's there? I thought she was still at home." Gia replied with a confused look.

"Who's she?" Troy repeated with a stern look.

Gia now had two choices; either help her best friend, or help the woman and get answers. With a heavy sigh she looked to Troy and said, "Fine, I'll go, but I need you to escort this woman to Emma's house."

Nodding his head, Troy agreed and watched as Gia darted off.

"So, what's your name?" Troy asked.

"Randi." She replied through fake sobs. Knowing her original plan was ruined, she had to come up with a new one, and fast.

Randi noticed that they were getting closer to their destination which meant she was running out of time.

"So, where are we headed?" Troy inquired as he recognized that they were getting closer to Emma's house. "Why would she know where Emma lived?" he thought.

"Well you see, my boyfriend Marc has a daughter who has been threatening me. I was going to go talk to Marc and hopefully get this whole thing settled." Randi said innocently.

"What was the daughter's name?"

"Emma, Emma Goodall."

They were already at the doorstep when Troy was about to turn around and question it. However, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and was overcome by darkness.

Randi rang the doorbell and looked around to see if anyone was watching her. Mr. Goodall came out and saw Troy on the ground.

"What the hell is he doing here? I asked for Gia, not him."

"Sorry babe, something came up and he ended switching places with Gia."

"Hm, that's alright. We can still make this work." Mr. Goodall said with a malicious smirk. "Help me bring him in before someone sees us. Do me a favor and tie him up in the attic."

_-Flashback-_

_Randi was walking home from her job when she heard her phone rang. She saw the id number and picked it up with a sly smile._

"_Hey Marc."_

"_Babe, I need your help. I finally found a way so we could get our happily ever after. All we need to do is get rid of Emma and her pesky friends. I think they're on to us, I caught one of them outside my window watching me beat Emma."_

"_What's going to happen now?"_

"_Simple, Gia is still probably on my side. She'll be the first one we'll capture, and then we'll slowly get her other friends one at a time. I want you to find a way to bring Gia back to my house. She was here earlier, but I didn't think she would've been informed of Emma's beating. Luckily, she didn't believe the boy who spotted me."_

_A smirk appeared on Randi's face as she figured out exactly what to do._

"_I'll figure out something." She replied before hanging up the phone._

-A Real Ranger's Life-

Gia made her way into the forest where she knew Emma would be at. The great thing about being best friends for years was that they knew each other really well. They practically knew what the other was thinking at all times.

Before she could reach her destination, she felt two pairs of strong arms grab her. She was about to spin around and throw a punch until she noticed that it was just Noah and Jake.

"What the hell? Aren't you supposed to be with Emma? Troy said she was crying in this area."

Jake nervously scratched his head and replied, "Well… you see…"

"That son of a bitch lied to me didn't he?" Gia growled while shoving Noah and Jake off herself.

Jake gently grabbed Gia's arm to try and plead with her, but was suddenly pushed into Noah. By the time he got up, he could see Gia racing off.

"Damn it." Jake mumbled, "Go find Troy while I go after Gia!" he told to Noah as he dashed off.

He didn't want to hurt her or force her to do something she didn't want to do, but he made a promise to Troy. He knew he was faster than Gia due to his soccer background, but Gia was smaller and could get through obstacles faster. Plus, it wasn't helping him that she was throwing sticks and dirt his way.

A huge cloud of dirt hit his eyes which forced him to stop for a moment to rub it off. When he finally cleared his vision, he saw no sign of Gia anywhere.

"Fuck." Jake whispered as he put his two hands on the back of his head.


	10. Can't Hurt Me

When Troy woke up, he immediately felt a splitting headache and groaned painfully. He almost fell flat on his face when he attempted to get. It was then he realized that his hands and feet were tied together in a very dusty, dim room. After a few attempts of trying to break free, he gave up after realizing it was just causing more pain to himself.

"Well, look who's awake now. Troy, was it?" Mr. Goodall chuckled as he circled around him.

"Why are you even doing this? Emma is your own flesh and blood!" Troy growled hatefully.

"Emma is the reason why my wife is dead! Emma is the reason I have another mouth to feed! Emma is the reason I have no job! She's a fucking burden!" he yelled.

"She tried saving your wife! That's more than what you did, that was her own mother too you know! Emma was devastated and she still blames herself for something that wasn't her fault!

"It's not my fault she dead, it's hers! I wasn't there when it happened." Mr. Goodall scoffed in annoyance, "I'm actually glad to hear that my idiot daughter of mine feels guilty like that, she deserves it!"

She did everything she could! A father is supposed to protect their child, but here you are being the very cause of her pain. Emma is not the reason you lost your job. It's because you were probably sitting on your sorry lazy ass and drinking yourself to sleep. Emma was your responsibility; do you think your late wife would be happy to see what kind of man you have become? You hurt her child, your own child! You're not even a man anymore; you're just a low life scum. Troy glared as he spit in Mr. Goodall's direction.

Mr. Goodall screamed in fury and threw a swift punch at Troy's face. Troy hissed in pain, but kept a strong face to prove that he wasn't afraid of him.

"You and your friends will all be sorry very soon. I'll kidnap and make you guys watch as I hurt each of your friends one at a time. That'll show Emma to never disobey me again!"

"Don't you think our parents would worry about us? If we go missing, the police would look for all of us and your butt will just end up in jail." Troy pointed out while rolling his eyes.

"If we kill you all and leave immediately, then I guess I won't have a problem. The cops won't be able to find me and Randi that easily." He smirked as he started to bleach his hands to get rid of his fingerprints. "All I need to do is get your other friends, and then it'll all be over. Surely Emma will learn her lesson this time."

"Don't you think you're going a little overboard?"

"Shut up! It's too late to go back anyways. Now keep your mouth shut before I decide to kill you right now on the spot." Suddenly Mr. Goodall snickered as he came up with an idea. "You seem to be a strong guy, but how strong do you think you'll be once you hear the pained screams of Emma. If I can't break you, then I guess I'll just have to pay a little visit to Emma."

When Troy heard this he started fighting through his restraints with all the strength he had. However, it still wouldn't budge and was forced to plead with words.

"No! Don't! Do anything to me, I don't care, just don't hurt her anymore!"

"Oh, so maybe my daughter does have someone who has feelings for her. This will only make things even better. How could you even have feelings for her? She an ugly, useless, weak, piece of crap" He said through a burst of laughter. "Not so tough now you little piece of shit?

"You're wrong!" Troy said while shaking his head. "Emma was the best thing that happened to me. She's beautiful, kind, caring, intelligent, patient, and she's only made me stronger."

"Then let's see how strong you are. It seems like it's time to check up on Emma." He said as he left the room with a maniacal laugh.

"No! Stop! Don't hurt her!" Troy yelled through clenched teeth. "Shit, why did I have to be right?" he sighed deeply as he felt his cheek start to swell. However, the only real pain he felt was not being able to stop Emma's pain. He felt as if he'd failed her. He could only hope that someone would find him soon.

-A Real Ranger's Life-

It had already been a few hours since her father had seen him. In a way she was glad, but couldn't help but worry about what else he had done or what he was going to do.

"If he's not here with me, then what is he doing?" Emma thought to herself.

Suddenly, the doors to the basement burst open and in came Emma's father with a glass of wine. Fear and relief washed through Emma at the same time. She was glad that her father was in a place where she could keep her eye on him, but was terrified of what he was going to do to her next. Emma was already a black and blue mess and was covered in an assortment of bruises and cuts. She was sure something had to be dislocated, cracked, or even broken. Luckily, she was somewhat used to the pain and was distracted by what she saw earlier. She had seen Troy peeking in her house through a window and surely her father had seen him too.

"Hello Emma." said with his signature twisted smile. "Guess who decided to pay us a visit?"

Afraid of answering, Emma looked down at her feet and didn't say one thing.

"When I ask you a question, I expect you to answer me!" Mr. Goodall yelled as he stomped on Emma.

Knowing that he couldn't hurt her anymore than she already was, Emma decided to show some defiance.

"Let me guess, the tooth fairy?" Emma smirked. "With all those cigarettes you've been smoking, surely one of your teeth must have fallen out by now."

Emma felt the sting of the punch that was aimed at her face, but didn't let it bother her. If she was going to die, then wasn't going to let her father scare her anymore.

"I will not tolerate that type of disrespect!"

"You can't scare me anymore dad, I've had enough. I've put up with your abuse for far too long! I'm sick and tired of it!" Emma growled.

"Oh really? How about if I mentioned that little boy you had a crush on, I believe his name was Troy?

Mr. Goodall expected Emma's defenses to fall down but instead Emma completely ignored the pain and stood up, urging to hit her dad. The only thing that was keeping her away from him was the strong rope tied onto her arms, holding her back.

"What did you do to him?" Emma shrieked through clenched teeth.

Mr. Goodall shrugged his shoulder, "It was his fault for snooping in the first place, but don't worry soon all you're other friends will be here."

"Wait, you mean Troy is here?" Emma asked while looking around.

"Of course he is. He's enjoying his stay up in the attic." Mr. Goodall sniggered. "I'll get all of your friends one by one, and you'll be powerless to stop me."

Emma felt the tears threatening to spill; she couldn't get her friends into her mess. This was her problem and hers only. She needed to come up with a plan to escape, and fast.

"You'll never get away with this; I'll find a way to stop you! You're not even my father anymore, he died when my mother died; you're just a piece of shit that has a useless slut following your tail!"

In anger, Mr. Goodall threw his wine glass at Emma and watched as it shattered into pieces. Emma flinched as a few of them got caught her in skin. Pleased with her pain, Mr. Goodall walked back upstairs to talk to Randi.

"Why do my plans always have to involve me getting hurt?" Emma thought to herself as she bent down and picked up a piece of a broken glass. Slowly, but surely she started cutting the rope.

"I'm coming Troy."

**Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read this. I apologize for the slow updates, but like I said before, life gets really busy. Writing is something I enjoy doing in my free time, so I'll update whenever I can. Please don't forget to review! I really enjoy reading your feedbacks/comments/critiques.**


	11. Confrontations

Gia ran as fast as her legs could take her until she reached Emma's house. Still not sure who to trust, she snuck inside the house through the basement's window. She let out a small gasp when she saw blood on the floor along with shattered glass right next to it. She ducked behind a chair once she started to hear voices upstairs. Gia carefully listened to their conversation as she waited for the right moment to reveal herself.

"Looks like we have a little time to ourselves babe." Marc said as he sat down on the couch next to Randi. "Our little visitors have been taken care of."

"Oh Marc, I can't wait until we get rid of your useless daughter and her annoying friends." Randi grinned. "So how's the rest of the plan going to work?

"Find any of her other friends that may know of her situation and get rid of them, if you know what I mean." Marc answered casually "I can't let anyone else ruin our lives together."

"Perfect, now we just have to get rid of her pesky friends! They're nothing but a nuisance!"

"Tell me about it, all they've done is cause me trouble. I can't believe she even found any friends besides Gia. Actually, I can't believe I actually loved the girl of mine." Marc joked.

"I know, how could you even look at her?" Randi asked as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, let's just say things were a lot better before she killed my former wife." Marc replied as she clenched his hands tightly.

"She killed her?" Randi questioned with a furrowed eyebrow "I knew she was annoying and crappy, but I didn't think she would have the guts to kill someone."

Marc laughed mockingly as her turned to face Randi. "Of course she didn't directly kill her; she wouldn't even be able to kill a fly. However, she didn't save her either. She's a good for nothing insolent little girl. My former wife would probably still be alive if Emma wasn't around."

Randi slowly wrapped her arms around Marc's neck and leaned into him. "Well at least she sort of did one thing right, if your wife was here right now, there wouldn't be an us."

Marc smirked deviously as he started kissing Randi affectionately. "I guess you're right"

Back in Gia's hiding spot, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. So far, Troy seemed to be right about his accusations against Mr. Goodall. Gia's stomach turned at the thought of all the pain Emma must've endured all these years along with all the abuse she's put up with. What hurt the most is that Gia was her best friend, and she didn't realize it. Sure she knew Emma was acting different, but she thought it was only because of her mother passing away. Fear, anger, and guilt washed over Gia as all these thoughts went through her head.

Suddenly, Gia was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a crash upstairs. Not wanting to wait any longer, she rushed up the stairs

"What the hell?" Marc roared as he stood up. "How'd you both get out?"

To Marc and Randi's shock Troy and Emma were standing right in front of them. While Marc was cuddling with his new girlfriend, Emma managed to sneak off and free Troy.

"I got bored" Troy shrugged.

Marc let out a frustrated cry and ran at Troy. Though Troy was injured, he was eager to show Mr. Goodall a piece of his mind. Not only was his life at risk, but Emma's as well. Even though they practically risked dying in battle every day, this scenario was different. This one was battle Troy couldn't lose. It was all for Emma's sake.

At the very last second, Troy was able to sidestep to the right and got into fighting stance. He used Mr. Goodall's weight against him and quickly tripped him.

Troy then jumped on top of him and landed as many punches as he could before he was viciously kicked off.

Mr. Goodall then counteracted with a punch to Troy's gut and followed it up with an uppercut to the jaw.

Luckily, Troy managed to recover in time to dodge a foot to the face. He used it to his advantage by grabbing Mr. Goodall's foot and twisting it. Then, he used this opportunity to hit him square in the chest, knocking him back several feet.

Meanwhile, Emma locked eyes with Randi. Emma knew she could've taken her out easily, but she was in no condition to even stand, never mind fighting! Emma was still limping and in extreme amounts of pain from her beatings, but she wasn't going to give up.

Suddenly, Randi rushed to Emma and aggressively shoved her to the ground.

Emma then sweep kicked Randi onto the ground and used that time to slowly get up. She was at a disadvantage if she was lying helplessly on the ground. By the time she finally got up, Randi was already on her feet ready for round two.

Randi spotted one of the glass plates and quickly grabbed it. Emma let out a small whimper of pain as the plate shattered on her ankle, causing her to fall

With an evil grin, Randi trudged over to Emma and was about to land a decisive blow. Emma closed her eyes and waited for the hit, but it never came. Thinking it was Troy's doing, she slowly got up, but with a blurred vision.

"No one hurts my best friend you bitch!" Gia yelled angrily as she tackled Randi to the floor.

"Gia?" Emma questioned when she recognized her best friend's voice. "How did you even…."

"One second, a little busy here!"

"Hold her down for just a few seconds!" Emma exclaimed as she limped towards them

"What do you think I'm doing? Playing a game of tag?" Gia responded sarcastically.

After a few seconds of struggling, Gia managed to come out on top and firmly held Randi down. Afterwards, Emma used this opportunity to land a strong kick to the side of Randi's head, knocking her out instantly.

Troy was slowly gaining the upper head and landed another sturdy kick on Mr. Goodall. Both Gia and Emma walked in and surrounded Mr. Goodall.

"I guess it's going to have to come to this." Mr. Goodall said as he reached for something inside his jacket.

"Come to what?"

"This." Mr. Goodall said as he aimed his gun at Troy.

"All three of you stand against the wall, or else I'll shoot."

Without any other choices left, they complied with his demand.

"I told you honey" Mr. Goodall spoke as he aimed his gun at Emma "I'll always win. Your defiance is only going to hurt you, or someone else."

Mr. Goodall then swiftly pointed his gun at Gia. Silence overtook the room until a gunshot was heard.


	12. Unsolved Resolutions

Gia's eyes were shut tightly, waiting for the impact to come. She was pushed slightly by something, but decided to brush it off, still waiting for the bullet to hit. She heard the gun go off, but she never felt the pain

"What the heck?" Gia muttered as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Emma!" Gia screamed when she saw her best friend covering her with her own body

"Don't worry, it only grazed me." Emma smiled weakly.

"You think that little stunt is going to save you?" Mr. Goodall scoffed. He then reloaded his gun and prepared to fire it again.

In one sudden movement, Troy used the distraction and swiftly disarmed the man. Neighbors had already called the cops when they heard gunshots, and the sound of sirens were getting closer and closer.

"It's over Mr. Goodall." said Troy as he kicked the gun out of his range.

Knowing that he couldn't take them all on at once, Mr. Goodall kicked Troy off his feet and made a run for it. However, he didn't get far when he saw two furious boys at the door step.

Noah firmly grabbed Mr. Goodall by the arms and restrained the crazy man.

"This is for Emma." spitted Jake as he punched Mr. Goodall in the stomach, knocking the father out.

"How did you even…"

"We heard everything through your morphers, and came here as fast as we could." Noah replied as he dropped the unconscious man on the ground.

"Oops."

"Don't worry about it." Jake chuckled. He turned and faced Troy "Cops are already on the way to pick up the scumbag and his girlfriend. We're all witnesses so we'll just explain what happened."

"What the hell Emma?" Gia held her best friend closely and put a hand on her wound in an attempt to slow down the bleeding "What were you thinking? You could've gotten yourself killed!"

Emma winced at the sound of her voice. Gia seemed to notice and took a deep breath.

"That should've been me taking the bullet." muttered Gia. She looked down at Emma and for a moment, she could see all the fear in her eyes.

"I can handle all this physical pain, but I wouldn't know what I would do if I lost you."

"You're not going to lose me, if everyone else in this world was against you; I would still be there right by your side."

"Don't forget about us." said the boys as they walked towards them.

"You'll always have us too." they smiled.

Emma gave off a weak smile before she drifted into darkness, her injuries finally taking its toll on her.

"How much longer until the ambulance is here?" asked a worried Gia

Noah looked down at his watch "Probably about 2 and half more minutes."

Jake put a comforting hand on Gia's shoulder "She'll be fine. She's safe now."

Gia let out a sigh "But what happens after all this? It's not like she'll wake up and be perfectly fine."

"Whatever happens, at least Emma will know she has a group of friends to help her with whatever she needs."

"But Jake…."

"No more buts Gia. We'll figure all of this out later. She's safe, we're safe. It's going to be okay. Right now, Emma needs you to be there for her."

"And I will be, I'm just worried for her."

"It's going to be okay." Jake said as he wrapped her in a hug.

-Hidden Secrets-

Emma woke up with a blurred vision. For a moment, all she could see was a blinding white light.

"Crap, this would be a really bad time to be dead." muttered Emma.

"You better not be dead, or else I'd have to kill you." A voice said.

Emma faced and turned to the sound of the voice. Her vision was blurred, but once it finally cleared, she recognized Gia.

"Where... where am I?"

"We're at the hospital. After you blacked out, the paramedics came and took you here. Luckily the bullet only grazed your arm so it's not too bad. However, you have two broken ribs, a sprained ankle and wrist, a concussion… do I really have to keep going?"

"I get it, I'm fucked up." Emma mumbled as she turned away.

Gia walked to Emma's bed and took her hand gently

"We can be honest with each other right?"

Emma just looked at Gia, staring at her blankly in silence.

"He's gone; he's out of our lives now."

"He was the only family I really had left." Emma whispered as she turned.

"Emma, look at me." Gia gently grabbed Emma's shoulders and made her look at her eyes.

"It seems like your real dad died a long time ago. That man wasn't your father, he was a monster. What father would want to intentionally hurt their daughter?"

"Maybe he was right, maybe I am just some useless piece of…."

"Emma!" Gia started pacing around the room frantically "Listen to yourself! You're not some pathetic damsel in distress! You just fought for your life and won! You saved me too!"

"All I did was…."

"You saved me, you saved Troy, and you got out of this mess."

"I was so scared."

"But you won, you overcame it."Gia slowly walked back to Emma and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm still scared." Emma hid her face under the hospital sheets. She couldn't let Gia see her like this; she couldn't let her best friend worry too much about her.

"It's over now. The bastard and his girlfriend are going to be in jail for a really long time. They won't be able to hurt you."

"They already have."

"You fought them off."

"And look where I'm at."

"C'mon Emma, whatever happened to the girl who was always optimistic, cheerful, and loved to dream?"

"I think she's gone too." Emma whispered.

Gia's heart broke into pieces when she heard what Emma said. Technically, Emma was right in front of her, but a part of her seemed to be missing. Over the years, it seems like it slowly started to fade away more and more.

"No." Gia said sternly. "I'm getting her back. I don't care how long it takes, I know she'll come back."

"Leave." Emma sniffled. She pointed her finger towards to door. "Just please leave me alone for now."

Gia let out a heavy sigh. She walked towards Emma and gave her a soft hug, careful to not hurt her any of her injuries.

"I'll be by your side for the whole thing." Gia whispered into Emma's ear. Solemnly, she walked outside of Emma's hospital room.

Once Emma was sure Gia was gone, she hugged herself and began to sob. The battle with her father was won, but the war had just begun. One problem may have been solved, but the real issue was still there. It was a level of hurt that no hospital could ever bandage up.


	13. A Real Family

It's been two weeks since the incident. Though Emma was slowly getting better, things still weren't the same. Emma refused to leave her room and hardly confronted anyone about anything. Mr. Goodall was out of their lives, but the damage was already done.

"Emma?" Gia knocked on the door.

Ever since Emma's dad was put in jail, Emma had been staying with the Moran family in the guest room upstairs. Unfortunately, Emma didn't have any family close by who would be willing to take care of her. Luckily Gia's family had been kind enough to take her in as if she was their own.

After hearing no response, Gia quietly let herself in. She looked around and saw Emma on the bed with her chin resting on her knees. Her eyes were puffy, her body was tired, and her mind was exhausted.

"Another nightmare?" Gia walked over and sat down next to Emma, wrapping a comforting arm against her best friend.

Emma nodded slightly.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I just want to move on and get better."

"It'll help if you talk about it. Emma, there's no need for you to put up your walls. No one here is going to hurt you."

"And I thought my dad would never hurt me too." Emma turned away from Gia and looked out the window solemnly.

"Come on Emma, it's me! Have I ever hurt you intentionally?"

"Well, no."

"Have I ever betrayed you?"

"No."

"Did I ever leave you?"

Emma let out a big sigh. "No, you haven't. But I'm still afraid that one day everyone I care about is just going to leave. I don't even have a family anymore. My mom is dead, and my dad is in jail. It doesn't seem like my other family members want anything to do with me either."

"Then make a new one. You don't have to let go of the old ones, but you can make a new one yourself. You have a team who is worried sick for you."

"Yeah, they're my teammates. Of course they are." Emma rolled her eyes.

"No, they do it because they're you friends. Friends who care for you a lot. Even my parents are concerned for you! Do you think they would be looking out for like this they didn't care? Look around Emma; you have a family surrounding you already. All you have to do is accept it, and be open with them!"

"My walls shield me. They protect me from monsters like my dad."

"Your walls will end up crashing down on you instead if you don't let them down now. The only thing they're doing right now is separating you from the ones who truly care about you."

"What's the point if they're all just going to leave anyways? One day, our ranger days will be over. One day, we'll all graduate and go on our separate ways. It's not like we'll be together forever."

"That doesn't mean we can't keep in touch. We're your friends, the care doesn't leave. Plus, we won't have to worry about that for a while. We can figure it all out when it comes to that time."

Emma let out another big sigh. "I'm sorry. It's just that I can't get over all of this so easily. I thought that it would all be over once my dad went to jail. "Emma looked down sadly at her hands. "I guess I was wrong."

Gia gently put her hand of Emma's shoulders and gave her a comforting smile. "You know, it'll help if you at least open up to me. You don't have to tell anyone else, just talk to me."

Emma took a deep breath and faced Gia. "I've had the same nightmare over and over. In every single nightmare, it ends with everyone I care about dying. My father killed all of you, and he just tortures me for enjoyment. "

"Emma…."

"And the worst part is that my mom was there."

For a moment, Gia's eyes widened slightly in shock.

"I know, and it gets worse. She tells me how much of a disappointment I am, and tells me that I'm a weak spineless fool for not saving her in time. I know it's not real, but…but…" Emma trailed off. She could feel the tears threatening to fall, but tried her best to keep them in.

To Emma's surprise, she was suddenly engulfed in a hug.

"It's okay, you can cry. I won't think less of you. It shows real strength when you know that you need help." Gia whispered.

Emma clutched Gia tightly and began to sob softly on her shoulder.

"Why? Why did this all have to happen? What did I do wrong?" Emma cried.

"Oh Emma, you never did anything wrong! But if it had to happen to someone, I'm kind of glad it happened to you."

Emma separated herself from Gia and gave off a frightful, confused look. "What do you mean?"

After seeing the look on Emma's face, Gia knew that she quickly needed to rephrase herself. "No one else could have probably handled this pain. Only you could've endured all of this. I don't know how, but you did. Deep inside, you're still the strong, kind, beautiful girl I knew all my life. You went through hell and back, but you survived."

"Just… just please don't leave me Gia. You're the closest thing I have to family now. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too."

"You won't. I'll always be here." Gia gave Emma a quick hug and a comforting smile. "You have family surrounding you, no matter where you are. Never forget that. Right mom and dad?"

Emma gave Gia another confused look as she wiped away her tears. "Um, Gia, we're the only ones here."

Gia gave Emma a slight smirk. "Oh really?" Suddenly, Gia got up from the bed and quietly walked over to the door to open it. "Ta da!"

Emma's eyes widened in shock when she saw the Morans right outside the door, with their ears pressed up against where the door was supposed to be. "Mr. and Mrs. Moran?!"

Gia's parents chuckled nervously while putting their hands on their neck. "How did you know?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders casually. "I'm used to it. I know you do it whenever I'm on the phone with someone anyways. You're not very stealthy."

Gia gave another smirk and patted the bed, signaling the parents to come sit with them. Her parents looked at each other and nodded before making their way to the bed.

Mrs. Moran sat next to the Emma and reached out to Emma's hand. "I'm sorry things had to turn out like this honey. Just know that we'll be here for you for whatever you need. You've always been a part of our family."

"I've been getting that saying a lot." Emma looked to a friend with a slight smile. "But thank you, it's nice to be reminded of it."

Mr. Moran clutched his hand in anger. "I can't believe that bastard would do something like that though."

"Mattew!"

"I'm sorry Jen, but it's true! He was hurting our girl right under our noses!"

"We don't need to mention it right here right now Matt. We can talk about it later."

"You're right, I'm sorry. I just hate seeing you so hurt Emma."

"Our girl?" Emma questioned with a furrowed brow, still registering what Mr. Moran just said.

"You've always been family to us. You're just as much as a daughter to us as Gia. I really do mean it." Mrs. Moran gave Emma a loving squeeze.

"You'll always have a home to return to with us." Mr. Goodall pointed out.

Gia took Emma's other hand and held it gently. "We'll always be here for you."

Emma looked around herself and couldn't help, but smile. Maybe she really could open up to others. Maybe she could recover from this. Maybe things could get better. Maybe she could experience what a real family was like.


End file.
